Nicknames
by Kaleyanne
Summary: Youko Kurama and Koenma talk at the Dark Tournament. Fifty years ago, of course.


Nicknames  
  
Looking important, the young prince of the Spirit Realm ascended the stairs of the Dark Tournament Stadium. It was important to look important. Very few demons had actually ever seen him; he didn't often leave his father's palace in the Spirit Realm. It was dangerous, and he was still a child... His father had just taught him to transform into an adult especially for this occasion; his first tournament appearance.  
  
It promised to be an interesting tournament. Ayame and Jorge Saotome had accompanied him to the tournament. They were with him now, as he approached the box that had been specifically reserved for them. The guest team he was supposed to sponsor and supervise looked promising; he hoped they weren't going to die. The team was named Toguro, after the two brothers that headed it. It was filled out with an eighteen year old girl named Genkai, a twenty year old boy named Yukito, and a sixteen year old named Yamato. Genkai was a specialist in various forms of martial arts and reiki manipulation, and was deeply interested in combining them into her own variation. Yukito was the only human to attempt to master the art of fighting with ice in two hundred years. The Toguros were interested in battle-shaping and abilities that could enable them to enhance each other's strength, and finally, Yamato was a swordsman of the old class.  
  
All of them were exceptional fighters.  
  
Still, while Enma hoped, he had decided not to become attached.  
  
Ayame and Jorge still at his heels, Prince Enma almost didn't feel a distinct youki clouding the atmosphere around him. It was vague and dark, and carried a certain ominous feeling that could leave even his father quaking in his oversized shoes.  
  
"Hail, Prince Enma! What brings you here?"  
  
Enma stopped.  
  
"Please don't tell me that's who I think it is."  
  
Jorge craned his neck just enough to see the silvery figure off to the right.  
  
"Did you think it was Youko Kurama, sir?"  
  
Enma sighed. 'Unfortunately.'  
  
Turning around to face the infamous thief, the prince forced a tone of royal dignity into his voice.  
  
"Hello, Kurama." Said silvery thief strode up to Prince Enma without a care in the world. He inclined his slender neck just enough for it to be noticed; a sort of mock- bow to the one parading as prince.  
  
His flawless white robes billowed around his thin form, and he smiled a smile thick with sugary poison.  
  
"Why, and I thought mine eyes had deceived me. It is the famous Prince Enma!"  
  
"Yes, it is I." Of all the days to deal with the nuisance! It wasn't enough that Kurama's exploits piled work onto his desk like nothing else, oh no. Every little thing involving the fox thief, King Enma the Great tossed it to his son like a bouncy ball to a dog. It was maddening.  
  
Kurama gently flipped back a lock of his wispy hair. It wasn't every day that he was face-to-face with someone from the upper Realm. Quite an opportunity, certainly not one to be missed. And the young prince himself? Glorious opportunity, the opportunity to educate the naïve one on just how things worked in the lower Realms. It would be risky, risky to provoke this child, though.  
  
Kurama was nothing if not a risk-taker.  
  
He cranked up his charm as far as it would go. "I assumed your father would be willing to grace us lower beings with his forceful presence this year," he said smoothly. "But I suppose that is the charm of having an heir, hm? Being able to give them all of the grunt work?"  
  
Enma clamped his hand to his cape. Better to rip the cape than punch the demon, he figured. Kurama was not physically strong (rumor was his strongest punch couldn't knock over a baby ice maiden), but he was clever. Quite clever, considering he had figured out Enma's true reason for being there so quickly.  
  
The prince told him so.  
  
Kurama chuckled grandly. "So I was right about the old man? I thought the Human Realm had more earthquakes going on than is healthy."  
  
Enma's eyes narrowed. "Since the worlds were split, you should know nothing of the happenings in the Human Realm, Kurama."  
  
The fox thief blinked innocently. "Relax, little prince. I merely have a deep attachment to a certain mountain there, and He tells me what I miss." He twisted a lock of silvery hair around a clawed finger. "While by no means am I an honorable creature, I have kept to my side of the border.  
  
"Speaking of, I have a question about the boundaries your honored father drew."  
  
Enma raised an eyebrow, almost positive he knew what Kurama was referring to.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"My mountain, the one I am named for?" Kurama gave the prince an annoyed look. "I was born on Mount Kurama, and so were my siblings, parents, grandparents, back through seven generations. It was clearly demonic territory. Why was it given to the humans?"  
  
Yup, Enma had been right. He sighed and explained.  
  
"That mountain has certain religious significance to the humans indigenous to that area."  
  
"It also had certain sentimental significance to the demons indigenous to that area," Kurama replied coolly. "I was the thousandth member of our family to be born there." He laughed gently. "But then, I suppose you cannot be caught favoring demons, hm? Bad for press?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
"I figured as much."  
  
Enma scowled. "Why are you here, Kurama?"  
  
Kurama laughed again. "Is it not obvious?"  
  
In Enma's eyes, it probably was. All the demons appeared to be there for the same reasons. To watch the Toguro Team die a brutal, bloody death. Four of the five members were hailed as demon slayers, and Genkai wasn't kind if you happened to be a demon acting very demonic. Otherwise, she at least left you alone.  
  
"No, no, no," Kurama chided. "You assume me to be the same kind of bloodthirsty beast my fellows are."  
  
Ayame gripped Enma's hand. Her own was cold, he noted. Jorge was quaking in his proverbial boots. Enma faced the fox defiantly.  
  
"Are you trying to tell me you're not?" he demanded. "Forgive me if I find that ludicrous."  
  
Kurama's laugh permeated the cold Ayame and shaking Jorge; both of them jumped. It took every ounce of self-control built from not going postal on his dad for Enma not to join them. Feeling wrong-footed, he focused on the yellow eyes of the famed thief; they were filled with a convincing imitation of mirth, but Enma detected a hint of distinct deception.  
  
Kurama was not quite sure why he found the idea so insane. While he was not a fan of bloody fights, it was true he did not mind them. And he did enjoy a good risk. He enjoyed being in difficult fights. And he enjoyed triumphing in them, especially against a worthy opponent... ah.  
  
The irony. Kurama loved irony. He had had a rather ironic sense of humor since birth. As the thousandth member of his family born on the famed Mt. Kurama, prophecy had foretold of an intelligent and brutally strong daughter to be born to their Ancient House.  
  
As Kurama often said, one out of three was not bad.  
  
In an attempt to fulfill the prophecy, he had been trained in the womanly arts of medicine and literature, and forced to continually wear his silver fur in a long sheet. He was teased, but taught to be gentle and kind, as a proper girl should be. His mother and older sisters had forced him to tend his own garden of roses and daisies.  
  
It was so unladylike to enjoy a fierce fight for your life, by a fox spirit's standards, that he had become almost obsessed with near-death experiences. He had learned to manipulate the plants he kept to turn them from delicate and girly to fierce and bloody.  
  
He figured he was a few petals short of a corolla. But really, it wasn't his fault. Blame those he called blood.  
  
His eyes had slid out of focus while his mind drifted. He shook his silver hair (he had grown used to it, and even he had to admit it looked good), and smiled at the spirits and poor excuse for a demon.  
  
"Unlike most of my brethren, young prince, I have no liking for another's blood spilled across the floor. The only reason to study the splatter is to attempt to learn how the unfortunate one died and avoid it myself.  
  
"On the other hand... If I did divine the cause of death, I personally am more likely to seek it out and defy it to its face. I experience no pleasure in watching someone else's blood leak out their skin, yes, but nothing makes me feel so alive as when it is my own. "He chuckled again. "Which is perhaps the most dangerous bloodlust of all."  
  
Enma shook his head sadly, mockingly. He had the infamous Youko Kurama figured out. Freaking wow! "Is that why you're here, Kurama?" he asked. "To challenge the tournament's winners?"  
  
Kurama shook his head, ears twitching in amusement. "No."  
  
Chocolatey eyes narrowed almost shut. Stupid thief. So chatty just a moment before, and now reduced to one syllable answers? Typical devious demon behavior.  
  
Not wanting to spoil his amusement, Kurama strode forward, and passed the Spirit Realm trio. "Lovely chatting with you, little prince, but I'm afraid my partner reserved a box for us. You have heard of Kuronue, have you not?"  
  
"I have," the prince murmured, in an effort to buy time. He had an idea... yeah. Might as well see if he could outfox the wiley fox.  
  
"If you aren't here to get into a fight yourself, Kurama," he began, "perhaps you're here because you finally learned the dangers of it."  
  
Kurama stopped dead in his tracks, tail standing straight up.  
  
"I am familiar with your exploits, as you know. You hit the nail on the head, my father drops everything concerning you onto my desk.  
  
"So I know how dangerous you like it. I know you wear wooden shoes that can't help but clack, and visible, billowing white robes. You do everything in your power to be caught, short of walking into my office in a noose. You do it just to get off on the adrenaline. You don't care for the gold as much as you care to hear your own blood pounding in your ears."  
  
Enma took a deep breath. He had one more thing to add.  
  
"And you know one day, it's going to get you killed."  
  
Kurama smirked to himself, back still to the Spirit Realm prince. The boy wasn't as much of an idiot as the general demon population assumed!  
  
He answered calmly, "Yes, young prince. I've had a few close calls lately, and my allies recommended I take a break. I am not one to avoid good advice from the precious few I trust. I suppose I'm here, though, because I still need my adrenaline rush. I'm still addicted. I'm just looking for a more vicarious thrill."  
  
Prince Enma turned himself around to face Youko Kurama's back.  
  
"Is that all you live for, Kurama? Your next adrenaline rush? Have you nothing else? No one to care for, and to care for you?" He shook his head. "What a sad existence, Youko Kurama."  
  
Kurama took a moment before answering completely off-topic.  
  
"It must be quite confusing for your employees, little Enma. With you and your father sharing the same name?"  
  
"It is," Jorge agreed.  
  
Kurama smirked. "Have you no nickname, to differentiate between you?"  
  
"He doesn't," Jorge said. "Though it would make our lives easier."  
  
Time for the kill! "Well, that's a shame. I will see you around then."  
  
He paused for dramatic effect.  
  
"Prince Koenma."  
  
The fox demon scampered off gleefully. His work was done.  
  
"Aaaah!" Jorge exclaimed. "That's perfect!!"  
  
Ayame nodded. "Yes, sir. It would make perfect sense to call you 'Koenma- sama.'"  
  
"No, it wouldn't!" the newly-christened Koenma exclaimed.  
  
"I'll go call home now, and tell them!" the blue demon exclaimed happily. "Everyone will be so pleased! Imagine, I never thought Kurama-san could be so kind!"  
  
"Yeah, me too," the redubbed Prince muttered.  
  
'This is all your fault, Kurama!'  
  
---  
  
If Ayame seems out of character, she's fifty years younger than what we see on the show. I have my theories...  
  
Where is Botan? Watch the Sensui DVDs and she indirectly says that she hasn't been a ferry girl for more than ten years. Since this is fifty years before that...  
  
Kuronue's existence... This scene was originally conceived as part of a bigger story involving someone trying to kill Kurama, Genkai and Koenma in the past, so Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara and Botan go back in time (somehow) to save them. Part of Kurama's role in that story will be to commentate on the then Toguro's Team abilities, and since if he just thinks it, the present- day kids won't hear it... he needs someone to talk to.  
  
A corolla is a part of a flower; all of the petals, if I remember right. I needed an analogy and it just didn't sound right for Kurama to say "few sandwiches short of a picnic" or something.  
  
And yes, Koenma's proper name is Enma Junior. He mentions in the manga that he dislikes being called Koenma, so... 


End file.
